Harvey Weinstein Multiple Sexual

Harassment Associations Scandal

H arvey Weinstein is an American film producer and

executive who gained fame producing independent films as
co-founder of Miramax Films and The Weinstein Company.
Hollywood has long excused powerful men for mistreating
women by the sole virtue of their power. But on October 5,
the New York Times released an extensive report alleging that
Harvey Weinstein, one of the entertainment industry’s most
powerful executives, has spent the past three decades using
his position to sexually harass women by dangling the promise
of future success. By October 8, with his reputation in tatters, Weinstein had been fired
from the Weinstein Company, the production studio he co-founded with his brother Bob
Weinstein and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and other
professional associations.
Following the Times article, Weinstein announced an indefinite leave of absence from the
Weinstein Company — with one third of the company’s board resigning over the
controversy. The remaining board members later voted — despite Weinstein’s pleas to
his top investors to buy him time — to terminate his employment, effective immediately.
The scandal triggered many similar allegations against powerful men around the world,
and led to the ousting of many of them from their positions. It also led a great number of
women to share their own experiences of sexual assault, harassment, or rape on social
media under the hashtag #MeToo. The scandal's impact on powerful men in various
industries came to be called the "Weinstein effect".

How the Harvey Weinstein Story Has Unfolded

The allegations didn’t stop with the Times’ initial exposé. On October 10, The New
Yorker published a second, even more explicit report, with several more women going on
the record against Weinstein with allegations of harassment, abuse, and rape. The story
is accompanied by an audio recording of Weinstein trying to convince an actress to come
to his hotel room while he showers, a day after she accused him of grabbing her breasts
(a charge he does not deny on the recording).
New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey revealed in their initial Times
report that while investigating Weinstein’s past, they found “previously undisclosed
allegations against Mr. Weinstein stretching over nearly three decades” and no fewer than
eight settlements with women who had accused him of sexual harassment and assault.
Altogether, the women who have accused Weinstein and those employees who’ve lodged
complaints through Weinstein’s company itself comprise actors, assistants, and 20-
something women who hoped to find a foothold in the entertainment industry. Weinstein,
as one of the industry’s most powerful gatekeepers, was allegedly more likely to oblige if
the women met him at a hotel — ostensibly for “work reasons” — and then acquiesced to
his sexually explicit requests.
In a statement on Oct. 10, his spokeswoman, Sallie Hofmeister, said: “Any allegations of
non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further
confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing
his advances. He will not be available for further comments, as he is taking the time to
focus on his family, on getting counseling and rebuilding his life.”

Initial reactions of Harvey Weinstein

Weinstein’s initial response to the allegations was three-pronged. He’s mounted the
aforementioned “I’m not a bad guy generally” defense, touting his progressive
achievements and lamenting the relative lack of interest in them. He’s ripped the New
York Times for “reckless reporting” and claiming the Times didn’t give him and his team
enough time to refute the points made in its report.
And finally, he leaned heavily on the “I’m too old to know better” defense. As his second
statement to the New York Times begins, Weinstein would like to emphasize that he
“came of age in the 60’s and 70’s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were
different. That was the culture then.”
To this point, he said he would be working with therapists and lawyer Lisa Bloom to better
understand gender dynamics in the modern day. Bloom initially released a statement that
described Weinstein as “an old dinosaur learning new ways” — but later resigned as his
“advisor,” saying that “Mr. Weinstein and his board are moving toward an agreement.”
Not long after that, Weinstein was fired.
As if to inoculate himself against criticism for citing his age (65) as a contributing factor to
his misbehavior, Weinstein has insisted that he has “since learned it’s not an excuse, in
the office — or out of it.” In other words, even as Weinstein says he has come to the
realization that his age isn’t an excuse for mistreating women, he has simultaneously
provided his age as an excuse for mistreating women in the past.
 The direct party reactions
Farrow said he had wanted to break the story months earlier with NBC but implied the
network was under pressure not to publish, which NBC denied. According to Farrow, 16
former or current executives and assistants connected with Weinstein said that they had
witnessed or had been informed of Weinstein's non-consensual sexual advances to
women.
The former Weinstein Company creative executive Lauren O’Connor sent a memo which
was obtained by the Times — that alleged a pattern of sexual harassment and misconduct
by Weinstein, echoing the claims made by many women over the years. O’Connor’s
memo detailed an incident involving Emily Nestor, a young assistant who said Weinstein
manipulated her into giving him a massage while he was naked, and ended up leaving
her “crying and very distraught.” Nestor later told the New Yorker that Weinstein had
asked her to be “his girlfriend” at the London office, and came on to her incessantly
despite her refusals to reciprocate.
In the two years that O’Connor had worked for the Weinstein Company, O’Connor wrote,
she and other female employees got the impression that they were being used to help
Weinstein meet and exploit “vulnerable women who hope he will get them work.”
O’Connor later reached a settlement with Weinstein, left the company, and told the Times
she has no further comment. In fact, no one who worked or works with Weinstein said
anything on the record to the New York Times, almost certainly due to this crucial detail
about how Weinstein conducts business:
Mr. Weinstein enforced a code of silence; employees of the Weinstein Company have
contracts saying they will not criticize it or its leaders in a way that could harm its “business
reputation” or “any employee’s personal reputation,” a recent document shows.
That November, Farrow reported that Weinstein had, through the lawyer David Boies,
employed the private intelligence agencies Kroll, Black Cube and private
investigator Jack Palladino to spy on and influence Weinstein's alleged victims as well as
Kantor, Twohey, Farrow and other reporters who were investigating Weinstein, so as to
prevent his conduct from becoming public.

How issue was solved: The consequences for Mr.

Weinstein
Mr. Weinstein has not been charged with any crimes.

He was fired from the Weinstein Company, which he co-founded, on Oct. 8, after
initially taking a leave of absence. The decision was made “in light of new information
about misconduct by Harvey Weinstein that has emerged in the past few days,” the
company’s board said in a statement.

Before he was fired, he called and emailed top Hollywood figures, asking them to speak
up in his defense.

“Do not let me be fired,” he wrote in an email to agents and studio executives.

He resigned from the company’s board on Oct. 17. The company descended into chaos.
Hachette Book Group said it would shut down the Weinstein Company’s publishing
imprint, Weinstein Books.

He was ousted from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a rare action for
the organization that awarded his studio five best picture Oscars.

The police in New York and London said they were investigating some of the
accusations against Mr. Weinstein. In 2015, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R.
Vance Jr., decided not to pursue sexual abuse charges after accusations by Ambra
Battilana, a model from Italy. Mr. Vance said his office did not have enough evidence to
prosecute.

Various Reactions
Weinstein's alleged actions were widely criticized by prominent persons in entertainment
and politics, and triggered a public discussion about, as the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), which awards the Academy Awards, put it, "willful ignorance
and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment" in the
film industry.

Business and professional associations

On October 5, 2017, Nita Chaudhary, the co-founder of women’s advocacy organization
UltraViolet, called for the immediate ouster of Weinstein from The Weinstein Company
(TWC). On October 8, TWC's board of directors dismissed Weinstein, and he resigned
from the company's board nine days later.
After Weinstein's ouster was announced, several companies ended their collaborations
with The Weinstein Company, including Apple (October 9, Hachette (October
12), Amazon (October 13), Lexus and Ovation (October 25). The AMPAS, the British
Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), the Producers Guild of America (PGA),
and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) also stripped Weinstein of their
memberships.

Criminal and civil rights investigations

On October 23, 2017, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman opened a civil
rights investigation into The Weinstein Company, issuing a subpoena for records related
to sexual harassment and discrimination complaints at the company.
Politics
Prominent politicians condemned Weinstein's actions. Hillary Clinton, Barack
Obama and Michelle Obama denounced Weinstein's reported behavior on October
10. French President Emmanuel Macron initiated the revocation of Weinstein's Legion of
Honor title. In the UK, Labour members of parliament requested the revocation of
Weinstein's Commander of the British Empire honorary title.
Other reactions
Weinstein's wife Georgina Chapman announced on October 10, 2017, that she was
divorcing him.
Also in October 2017, the University at Buffalo, Weinstein's alma mater, revoked his
honorary degree, and Harvard University rescinded Weinstein's 2014 W. E. B. Du
Bois medal.
On New Year 2018, more than 300 Hollywood actresses and other women published an
open letter in the daily newspapers New York Times and La Opinión appealing to support
the initiative Time’s Up.

National Impact: Hollywood responds

At first, people in Hollywood were reluctant to talk, as were people in the fashion world.
But the floodgates soon opened.

The October 2017 allegations against Weinstein precipitated an immediate "national

reckoning" against sexual harassment and assault in the United States, known as the
"Weinstein effect". Compounded by other sexual harassment cases earlier in the year,
the Weinstein reports and the subsequent "#MeToo" hashtag campaign, which
encouraged individuals to share their suppressed stories of sexual misconduct, created
a cavalcade of allegations across multiple industries that brought about the swift ouster
of many men in positions of power both in the United States and, as it spread, around the
world. In the entertainment industry, allegations led to the ousters of actors and directors
alike.
“The disgraceful news about Harvey Weinstein has appalled those of us whose work he
championed, and those whose good and worthy causes he supported,” Ms. Streep said
in a statement. “The intrepid women who raised their voices to expose this abuse are our
heroes.”

International Impact: Beyond Hollywood

Countless women outside Hollywood said they had experienced similar harassment and
assaults in their own industries. A hashtag, #MeToo, quickly spread through Facebook,
Twitter and Instagram, as women, and some men, shared their personal stories and
displayed how widespread the problem was. The Me Too campaign spread to other
countries and languages over social media in Asia, Europe, Latin and North America.
The media industry reckoned with why it took so long for “the worst-kept secret” in
Hollywood and New York to be published, and whether NBC missed an opportunity to
report it.

In North America, Canadian comedy festival founder Gilbert Rozon resigned and over a
dozen individuals accused Quebec radio host Éric Salvail of sexual misconduct.
In Europe, allegations against multiple British politicians created a public scandal and led
to the suspension and resignations of three officials. In France, political organizations
close to the Socialist Party, in particular the Union Nationale des Étudiants de
France (UNEF), were accused of systemic sexual harassment. The French daily
newspaper Le Monde published in November 2017 two articles on alleged sexual
harassment and predation supported by former UNEF presidents, Jean-Baptiste Prévost
and Emmanuel Zemmour. In an editorial, more than 80 UNEF female members and
militants came forward to accuse the Union of "sexual violence".
Recommendations
The company should implement proper internal controls because it’s very tantamount to
the success of a business. It should observe proper control environment like there should
be a set of expected standards of conduct in the workplace. Everyone should be oriented
with the right conduct in the workplace and in order to test such there must be also
supervision and monitoring among the employees. If ever there would be a misconduct it
should be reported immediately to the superior provided that each employee has the
privilege to share their thoughts and insights. Compared to what happened in the Harvey
Weinstein scandal in which Mr. Weinstein imposed a code of silence which employees of
the Weinstein Company have contracts saying they will not criticize it or its leaders in a
way that could harm its “business reputation” or “any employee’s personal reputation,”. It
only means that those employees were deprived of freedom of expression. The person
who did the misconduct should suffer the consequences with proper due process.

In addition, the most important thing in order to avoid this scandal is to have strong
corporate governance. The board should enforce rules and regulations that address
proper ethics in the work place and they are expected to be the role model to their
subordinates through practicing such.